News / National
Marange Diamonds Might Fund Bloodshed: Report
14 Feb 2012 at 22:24hrs | Views
If you're buying diamonds from Zimbabwe, you might be helping fund electoral violence and malpractice which analysts believe will plague the country's forthcoming Presidential elections.
The report, Diamonds: A Good Deal for Zimbabwe?, was released by the UK based civil society group Global Witness on Tuesday and reveals that several directors of the Chinese owned Anjin mining company are drawn from the Zimbabwean military and police..
The report also reveals that a very substantial stake of another diamond firm, Mbada Diamonds, was awarded by the Mugabe government to a company owned by Air Vice Marshal Robert Mhlang, a man believed to be Mugabe's personal pilot. According to the Global Witness report, Mhlang's company has "opaque company structure based in tax havens."
Since 2008, when the Zimbabwean government violently wrestled control of the Marange diamond fields from small scale miners, Mugabe has awarded diamond mining concessions to several companies owned by his close friends and associates.
This discovery highlights the risk that Mugabe's allies could use financial proceeds from the diamond mines to finance electoral fraud and violence in future elections to benefit Robert Mugabe, the Global Witness report concludes. Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe for close to three decades, is seeking re-election in the country's presidential polls slated for sometime this year or next year. Analysts expect the election to be as besieged by fraud as the previous one was.
The Global Witness report says that there is a real risk of these revenues being used to finance violence during a future election.
Commenting on Zimbabwe's diamond mines, Nick Donovan, senior campaigner at Global Witness, said:
"Zimbabwe desperately needs diamond revenues for health and education services, not AK 47s… Zimbabwe must ensure that diamond mining companies are not used as an off-budget cash cow by ZANU PF loyalists in the military and police. If the next election is accompanied by violence there's a real risk that any bloodshed will be funded by diamond revenues."
Read the report, Diamonds: A good deal for Zimbabwe?
The report, Diamonds: A Good Deal for Zimbabwe?, was released by the UK based civil society group Global Witness on Tuesday and reveals that several directors of the Chinese owned Anjin mining company are drawn from the Zimbabwean military and police..
The report also reveals that a very substantial stake of another diamond firm, Mbada Diamonds, was awarded by the Mugabe government to a company owned by Air Vice Marshal Robert Mhlang, a man believed to be Mugabe's personal pilot. According to the Global Witness report, Mhlang's company has "opaque company structure based in tax havens."
Since 2008, when the Zimbabwean government violently wrestled control of the Marange diamond fields from small scale miners, Mugabe has awarded diamond mining concessions to several companies owned by his close friends and associates.
The Global Witness report says that there is a real risk of these revenues being used to finance violence during a future election.
Commenting on Zimbabwe's diamond mines, Nick Donovan, senior campaigner at Global Witness, said:
"Zimbabwe desperately needs diamond revenues for health and education services, not AK 47s… Zimbabwe must ensure that diamond mining companies are not used as an off-budget cash cow by ZANU PF loyalists in the military and police. If the next election is accompanied by violence there's a real risk that any bloodshed will be funded by diamond revenues."
Read the report, Diamonds: A good deal for Zimbabwe?
Source - Global Witness
